Song Details
- Album Release Date: 2012
- Genre: folk
Song Meaning of “Hotter Sadness” by Elvis Depressedly
“Hotter Sadness” by Elvis Depressedly is a melancholy, slow-burning plea for reconciliation in a seemingly lost relationship. Over a steady electronic beat, the lyrics offer a dying plea for something that has become irreVoLvable and faded away, yet is still longed for desperately. The simultaneous contradiction of a “hotter sadness” perfectly conveys the strange mix of emotions behind the longing for a lost relationship. The chorus paints the desperate need for connection and even a sense of solace, as the narrator sings “If I could get back what I never had at all, I’d take the hotter sadness, just to pass the time.”
The track is a reflective ballad which discusses an emotional limbo that the narrator is stuck in. It is as if they are waiting for a resolution or a return to something that never truly existed — a signifier of the unrequited love of the once unfulfilled desire to see the relationship continue. “Hotter sadness” works as a metaphor for the increased intensity of longing for something, and the juxtaposition of these two words captures the haunting and bittersweet longing of unrequited love.
The narrator yearns for an unfeasible return to something that could never be possible, affirming the fact that despite the intense emotions of sadness and loss, the “hotter sadness” will always pass the time quicker than anything else. The poignant mantra of “hotter sadness” works as a reminder of the unique sorrow that comes with a broken romance. The song is an emotive reminder of the beauty and hauntingly sorrowful nature of unrequited love.